


The Missing Piece

by Starkulous



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Gen, PTSD, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, i'M SAD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 09:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19765264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starkulous/pseuds/Starkulous
Summary: 4 year old Morgan Stark wants a brother, but Tony surprises her by telling her about the brother she never met.





	The Missing Piece

Remember that age when kids ask their parents for a sibling because their friends are having one, or they just 'cuz?

Well, Morgan Stark too goes through that phase.

It's 2022. Morgan just started preschool, despite Tony's objections ("She is growing up too fast, Pep!- no, I'm not crying.")

Tony, well and alive, spends his days doing household chores and being the best stay at home dad to his 4-year-old daughter while his wife ran his company.

So, when he walks his daughter home from school, he is not prepared for what she is going to ask;

"Daddy?"

"Yes Maguna?" he tucks her brown locks behind her ear.

"I want a brother."

He froze. He knelt down to look into his daughter's eyes. It hurt. Their doe-like wonder and hopeful gleam reminded Tony too much of... _his_ eyes.

_Peter's_.

The kid who looked at him like he hung all the stars. His protege, who he once wanted to leave the future to. That innocent, trusting boy that helped even when it wasn't needed. His son, who he failed, who died in his arms.

Peter.

He still had nightmares about that day, when the kid he had grown accustomed to parenting clung onto him and begged for his life. Tony could do nothing but soften his fall as he slowly turned to dust.

It seemed a lifetime ago- those lab nights, movie nights, pillow fights- many things had changed.

But he couldn't move on. He thought he did, but honestly, he didn't want to.

Yet here he was. Living by a peaceful lake, doing nothing, while Peter was just... _gone_.

"Daddy?" She blinked curiously.

As he stares at Morgan's delicate and unbattered gaze, he finally realizes that even though the world should have stopped with... that, it didn't. And he was living in it.

He didn't regret Morgan. Not one bit. Even when she gave him his second bittersweet taste of parental concern like a certain brown haired teenage superhero.

Of course, Morgan won't know that. Maybe its time he changed that.

"You already have a brother, honey." he knew he should have told her sooner.

"I do?" she asked, clearly confused "Where is he?"

A pile of dust on some faraway planet.

"He...is not here right now, honey."

Never will be.

"When will he come home?"

"Someday, Maguna" he didn't realize how easy it was to lie to kids until just then.

" _Mr. Stark I don't- I don't feel so good"_

_"You're fine"_

_"I-I don't know what's happening, I don't- I don't want to go-"_

"How big is he?" Morgan enthusiastically questioned, wanting to know more about the brother she never met (unbeknownst to her, pulling Tony out of a panic attack in the process)

"Almost taller than me" Tony chuckled at her surprised face, knowing that wasn't the answer she had expected.

"What is he like?"

She continued to bombard him with questions the entire afternoon, and he diligently answered, fondly reminiscing his time with his kid.

Morgan Stark finally came to know about the Star Wars loving genius who could climb walls.

When she finally left his side to welcome Pepper home that evening, he realized that this was the first time since Peter died that he wasn't transported to the orange remains of Titan just thinking about him.

It had been a pleasant change, remembering his odd quirks and nerdy pun t-shirts instead of the desperation-laced voice that begged to stay.

Peter was gone. Tony still did blame himself for it- as he always knew he would (even if that goddamn kid apologized to him for dying)

But all Tony could do now was make sure he wasn't forgotten.

That night when he went to bed, Tony had a dream- no, nightmare- (more of a cross between the two if there was a thing) not the kind which ended with him jolting up, covered in sweat, crying out in anguish- those nightmares fueled by PTSD (the kind he was familiar with), but rather one that made him feel empty and helpless, his heart clenching with grief as he opened his eyes in the middle of the night.

He looked at the flashing red letters of the clock. It was still 2:58 AM. Pepper lay beside him, fast asleep.

Tony stared at the ceiling. He couldn't get those images out of his head.

Morgan loved her brother, who swung through the city beating up bad guys and helping lost old women.

But what about Peter?

He knew he would have loved her. There wasn't a soul he could actually hate, but even in Tony's dream, they had been inseparable.

Peter was there when Morgan was born.

Morgan clapped the loudest when he graduated as valedictorian.

Peter filmed her first word.

Morgan moped when Peter's MIT acceptance letter came.

Tony almost allowed himself to smile, thinking about his kids bonding together.

That's when the guilt, remorse, and reality sunk in.

Peter will never grow taller than him.

He will never graduate.

He will never go to college.

Peter and Morgan will never meet.

Because Peter was dead.

Tony spent the better half of the time he spent stranded in space thinking about his failure. Even four years later, the realization didn't soften its blow.

_It had been four years since he failed his first child._

It had been four years since Peter Parker died.

Tony knew there was nothing he would stop at to bring him back.

But, and this was what hurt the most, there was nothing he _could_ do.

He knew that he should appreciate what he built out of the ashes; his new world, and he did.

He just couldn't help but feel that something was missing.


End file.
